A bus ticket from Portland to Vancouver, B.C., costs $61. Would anyone want to join me in buying bus tickets for the Occupy Portland protesters? Some in New York have said they would love to live in Canada or Denmark. I do not have enough money to help them relocate to Denmark, but I am willing to help with the ticket to Canada.

Ideas? If we receive enough money to buy these people bus tickets, we can return to our happy capitalist society and live in peace.

DARLENE PAINTER TUTMARK Northwest Portland

***** There is a huge movement sweeping across the country as people take up occupation of public squares to express outrage over citizen suffering as a result of greedy, unethical and likely illegal actions on Wall Street.

Disparagers scoff that participants come from a variety of backgrounds and lack focus. Do not let anyone portray cohesive diversity as inarticulate disunity. The diversity of participants is one of the strongest statements of all.

JUDITH DAHLEN Vancouver

*****I just don't understand. We live in the land of the free, home of the brave, where a person can speak his or her mind without fear of retribution.

Any person born to wealthy parents or having a sizable trust fund can aspire to go to a prestigious college, where he will meet other children of privilege and form liaisons that will last a lifetime. If this person has a modicum of intellect and the predatory skills of a shark, he may grow up to be the richest man in the world, worth 59 billion bucks. If he lacks the requisite intellect and is a C student, drunk most of the time but has managed to forge the right connections and is born of connected parents, why, he could even become president of this great country! What could be better?

Why don't all of those college graduates and homeless people who are jamming our city streets give it up, go get a job at Sprawl Mart or someplace? If they cannot do this, they can go occupy Oregon City. ODOT has already closed most of the major roads there anyway, and at least they would not be inconveniencing the fortunate people who still have jobs.

R. O'DRISCOLL Colton

*****In honor of Occupy Wall Street, I started an online virtual stock portfolio. After trading off fears, rumors and overhyped analyses, my portfolio has increased 38 percent in my first seven trading days.

If a 23-year-old unemployed community college student can make such terrific gains in such a short time, perhaps Occupiers are correct in calling for increased scrutiny of a system where the rich get richer and the poor get patronized.

DEVIN MONAGHAN Lake Oswego

*****In another of the continuing stream of invective and condescension directed toward the Occupy Wall Street movement, George Will suggests that the contest between the pure and well-bathed members of the tea party and the OWS rabble is no contest at all ("Occupy Wall Street vs. tea party: Let the vote decide," Oct. 13). If the frequency of publication of the right-wing chorus (Will, Rich Lowry, David Brooks) is an indication of the mood on the right, then, to paraphrase a line from literature, "It seems the gentlemen doth protest too much."

Do I sense a whiff of panic here? Is it possible that the right-wing intelligentsia recognizes that its rigidity in the face of the growing concentration of power and wealth in the hands of fewer and fewer people is indefensible?

I would be impressed if someone, anyone, among the thought leaders on the right addressed the hollowing out of the middle class, the increasing aggregation of political control by corporations and banks, and the constriction of access to the voting booth by minorities and the poor.

ROBERT BURGEE Southwest Portland

***** To David Brooks of The New York Times: Please quit saying that the Occupy movement is calling the 1 percent "evil" ("Sideshows divert attention," Oct. 12). At least out here, we are calling the 1 percent "greedy." They have an ever-higher percentage of the country's output; that makes them greedy.

And don't blow off the movement as a few disgruntled people; there were 5,000-6,000 people marching in Portland last week, with upward of 10,000 people at the rally. There have been rallies at Astoria, Seaside, Manzanita and Tillamook, along with several others in the state.

To be honest, I don't know what can be done about the tax laws that have made the rich richer, the trade agreements that have decimated our manufacturing base, and campaign finance laws that give corporations increasing influence over the legislative process, but we are trying to get the attention of our leaders. There are a lot of unhappy people out here.

It began with two orders each of truffled french fries with crab and continued through the "Grand RingSider," a seafood platter with shrimp, mussels, oysters, crab legs and a whole lobster, the latter of which fully loaded costs a whopping $105.

The article does not indicate who footed the bill for this feast, but I couldn't help but think that the millions of Americans who have trouble putting food on their tables during this recession must be happy knowing that our elected officials (and not just Republicans) are eating meals many of us can only dream of.

Disparities such as this prompted a protest called Occupy Wall Street.

SHIRLEE ROBERTSON Southwest Portland

*****It doesn't take one long to get the gist of the Occupy movement. Things have gotten bad, bad enough for people to take to the streets to an extent that's not been seen in 30 years. With a closer look, you'll learn that they're mad at "corporations buying politicians" and "big banks raiding the treasury." Corporations, politicians and big banks; does the movement even really know who its enemies are? Even the official declaration from the Occupation of New York is painfully vague, citing only "corporations" and accusing "They."

No one is asking the occupiers, "Do you even know the names of your congressmen?" I highly suspect most of the occupiers would have an easier time naming the judges for "American Idol" than naming the people representing us in Washington. Are we willing to face the role that our political apathy and inattention has played in getting us here?

DAVID WELLS Northeast Portland

*****I can't help but feel that the Supreme Court of the USA should shoulder some of the blame for the demonstrations that are taking place around the country. The ruling of the court that when it comes to campaign contributions, corporations and other special interests are equal to ordinary citizens may have been the "straw that broke the camel's back," so to speak. It definitely discriminates against ordinary citizens (the 99 percent), who do not have the funds to compete with special interests for congressional favors.

The demonstrators are taking the only avenue open to them to call attention to the serious problems facing our country. As individuals, they are ignored.

W. BRUCE HAMILTON Milwaukie

*****In any enlightened society no one is destined to remain confined and stagnated within the social or economic class to which they were born. Occupy Wall Street is the very normal and natural response and consequence of disenfranchisement of the masses. Upward mobility has been slowly stolen away from The People over the past 30-plus years.

The fact that many politicians and media pundits, self-professed experts on "news" programs, struggle to find a coherent message in these rallies only serves to demonstrate how disconnected they really are. It demonstrates the greed that drives them, the callousness with which they regard the American people, and how easily fooled they believe we are. It exemplifies the vast distance by which they are removed from the realities faced by the average citizen.

Given what many of them have been through, The People are being extremely generous in choosing to peacefully protest, rally and demonstrate. Let's hope the policymakers listen.